The state of the European Union?

I haven’t done much research into this, certainly I know from our support raising that the Euro is running very strong. However, I have picked up some negative scuttlebut here and there about the European economy. Rampant socialism, and out of control government are huge issues in Europe and that almost never bodes well for an economy. Mark Steyn, who is in my opinion a brilliant conservative columnist, but who is distinctly and even sarcastically to the conservative right, manages to highlite the emerging issues in Europe while he talks about Bush’s European tour.

Europe’s problems — its unaffordable social programs, its deathbed demographics, its dependence on immigration numbers that no stable nation (not even America in the Ellis Island era) has ever successfully absorbed — are all of Europe’s making. By some projections, the EU’s population will be 40 percent Muslim by 2025. Already, more people each week attend Friday prayers at British mosques than Sunday service at Christian churches — and in a country where Anglican bishops have permanent seats in the national legislature.

Steyn is making a case against the new EU constitution. I don’t have a lot of stake in that, because I don’t know enough about it to make any sort of rational decision. However, I do know that the lack of church attendance is a very bad thing, and based on my own experience years ago in Germany, unfettered immigration can only lead to hostility and violence in the population. Steyn spots some recent examples of this as well:

France, where for three years there’s been a sustained campaign of synagogue burning and cemetery desecration, and Germany, where the Berlin police advise Jewish residents not to go out in public wearing any identifying marks of their faith.

The ”violence in the Netherlands” is a reference to Theo van Gogh, murdered by a Dutch Islamist for making a film critical of the Muslim treatment of women. Van Gogh’s professional colleagues reacted to this assault on freedom of speech by canceling his movie from the Rotterdam Film Festival and scheduling some Islamist propaganda instead.

This does not bode well for Europeans, nor does it sound promising in the grander scheme of winning Europe for Christ. That’s why we, the believers, the prayer warriors, and the missionaries need to get to work. I don’t believe as Mark Steyn seems to, that the doom of Europe is already sealed. I believe Jesus Christ can work a miracle there, and instead of Europe importing Islam, they can export Jesus. That’s why our mission is so essential. The struggle is not on the horizon, it is upon us today. It is time for all of us to join the fight in whatever way we can.

Right now there are 750 Million Europeans. Less than 1% of those are Evangelical Christians. That word, evangelical, can be a bit confusing. Some define it simply as protestant, but that’s not the way I’m using it here. Evangelical means that you believe the Bible is the word of God and have made a decision for Jesus Christ. That’s it.